Retail

BRIEFCASE

February 10, 1996

The Chief financial officer of Pier 1 Imports was fired Friday in the wake of bad, unauthorized investments that cost the retailer $19.3 million. Robert Herndon, 61, had been with the company for a decade and was put on leave while an outside financial adviser investigated the trading. The Fort Worth-based company had announced Dec. 26 that it would take a pretax loss because of ''inappropriate'' trading in a discretionary account by a firm hired to manage the company's excess cash and short-term investments. Shortly after the company's disclosure, a Beverly Hills, Calif.-based advisory firm run by financial consultant Jay Goldinger acknowledged it was the adviser. Goldinger shut down the firm, Capital Insight, a few days later.